“We’re looking to have more vendors,” DDA director Jonathan Greene said after a meeting with vendors on Thursday. “It’s not just more vendors, but more variety.”

The farmers market has had produce and flowers, Greene said, but he’d like to see meat, cheese, bread and other homemade products.

About a dozen people attended Thursday’s meeting to discuss this year’s market and it’s long-term future.

“This is so important to keep this going,” said vendor Karen Rockwell of Summit Township, who has sold floral arrangements at the market for two decades.

The market makes fresh fruits and vegetables available to residents — including elderly people — who wouldn’t otherwise have an opportunity to purchase them, Rockwell said.

“We want to keep the cost (to vendors) down so people can come and sell things,” she said.

Some farmers have pulled out because they couldn’t afford to rent space at the market, which is under a pavilion next to Kuhl’s.

Greene told vendors tentative plans call for a $300 per year stall fee for vendors who sell their goods once a week at the market during its 30-plus weeks of operation that begin in April. The cost would be $900 per stall for a vendor that participates on all three days the market is open — Tuesday, Friday and Saturday.

He said he believes the city’s proposed fees are slightly less than the average vendor paid previously. “Our goal is to have the market support itself, to break even,” he said.Typically about 10 vendors per season rent stalls, Greene said.

Travis Fojtasek, co-manager of the Allegiance Health Green Market that sells locally grown and produced items, said some of his vendors are considering also participating in the Jackson Farmers Market.

But there seemed to be no support for doing that now and Greene said the city is not interested in buying the building. The city owns the parking lot and pavilion next to the former Kuhl’s Bell Tower Market.